U.S. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: $259.6 BLN

U.S. BEA - Expenditures by foreign direct investors to acquire, establish, or expand U.S. businesses totaled $259.6 billion (preliminary) in 2017. Expenditures were down 32 percent from $379.7 billion (revised) in 2016 and were below the annual average of $359.9 billion for 2014-2016. As in previous years, acquisitions of existing businesses accounted for a large majority of total expenditures.

In 2017, expenditures for acquisitions were $253.2 billion, expenditures to establish new U.S. businesses were $4.1…

IEA - At the moment, Russia is sending record volumes to Europe while LNG utilisation rates remain relatively low. Limits to European production capacity and import infrastructure (with over half of pipelines operating at monthly peaks above 80%) may contribute to market tightness over the coming years, particularly if Asia continues to absorb the ramp up in global LNG liquefaction capacity.

The South Korean government Tuesday gave its final approval to lower taxes on LNG used for power production by 75%, and raise those on thermal coal by 28% from April 1, in a move likely to boost downstream gas consumption.